Sports Beat

The kind people who bring us the Women in Waders
calendar--basically a year of fly models fly-fishing--have just
released their newest calendar, Beauty and the Bass. Melinda
Hoeyne and Gary Garrison, a married couple from Eugene, Ore.,
have built a thriving business out of a boot fetish. "We'd go
fishing and he'd like to see me in waders," says Hoeyne. "Gary's
buddies always kidded him about his woman in waders. It was such
a catchy title we decided to make a calendar out of it." After
their debut offering sold 5,000 copies in Oregon tackle-and-bait
shops three years ago, they quit their jobs running a recording
studio and devoted themselves full time to their booty call.
Garrison, 51, does the camera work and helps Hoeyne, 28, manage
their company. Thanks to the Internet (womeninwaders.com), they
sell more than 20,000 calendars a year for $12.95 each.

--If sportsniks who watch CBS's hit legal drama The Guardian
notice some familiar names popping up, they can thank staff
writer Nick Santora, 31, who last summer quit his job as a lawyer
in New York to work on the show. In L.A., Santora experienced Big
Apple sports withdrawal: "I miss my Islanders, Giants and
Yankees. It drives me nuts." He copes by sticking references to
his favorite players into scripts. A new defense attorney, Clay
Simms, is named for former Giants quarterback Phil Simms.
Santora's favorite moment was when a character received a page
from someone named Wayne Merrick--also the name of an obscure
Islanders forward who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in
1981. "My friends at home laughed their asses off because I used
to try to convince them that Wayne Merrick was better than Wayne
Gretzky," says Santora, who's getting used to life in Tinseltown.
"I just saw Jack Nicholson the other day, and I was like, big
deal. But if I saw Wayne Merrick, I'd crap myself."

--William (the Refrigerator) Perry, who weighs in at about 400
pounds, put away 12 dogs in 12 minutes to qualify for Nathan's
Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island on July 4. The
40-year-old former Bears defensive lineman knows he's up against
a master in defending champion Takeru Kobayashi, the 130-pounder
who knocked back 50 1/2 franks last year. But he doesn't seem
fazed. "I just plan on eating them one at a time," says Perry.
"Ain't nothing hard about eating."

--Marion Jones even has quick pregnancies. The world's fastest
woman gave birth to a healthy son named Tim on Sunday, three
weeks before her due date. Papa Tim Montgomery was in
Scotland--where he finished second in a 100-meter race on one
hour of sleep--when the child was born. "I knew we'd have a fast
baby," he said, "but I didn't expect him to be this fast." ...
Titans running back Eddie George recently proposed to girlfriend
Tamara Johnson (of the R&B band SWV) while the couple was
standing on the Brooklyn Bridge. Like any normal person, he had
the five-carat ring delivered by an English bulldog. The
wedding's next June.

COLOR PHOTO: CALENDARDATES.COM Miss April, nice bass!

COLOR PHOTO: SUNG PARK-THE AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN/AP (WATERMELON) PICTURE THIS It is summer, a time once associated with family vacations and outdoor fun but which in recent years has become, let's face it, the competitive eating season. Here, in a scene reminiscent of a Gallagher show, melonhead Christi Rheinboldt (right) shows the splashy form that allowed her to win the top honors at the Luling (Texas) Watermelon Thump for the 12th time.

COLOR PHOTO: ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES (RODDICK)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

A Wisconsin couple have arranged to have their infant daughter
baptized at Lambeau Field.

THEY SAID IT ANDY RODDICK

Twenty-year-old U.S. tennis player, responding to a female
reporter who asked him if he enjoys being the "new sex symbol"
of tennis: "Do you want to go to dinner later?"